[Misc] Who has got an unusual HOBBY?

[Thunder Bolt]

I have not got hang of this. Used Ancestry paid £50 plus and every time I wanted to look up someone else asked for money with no assurance the person you look up is not the right one

I pay for six months at a time, and the only thing chargeable is for birth or death certificates.
Parish records, birth, marriage and death registrations are all free, and you can get info from other family trees with common ancestors.

I’ve also had my DNA tested which did cost extra. Fascinating stuff.

 

[Comrade Sam]

I love Brutalist and Modernist architecture, and taking pictures of it wherever I find it - no camera, just my phone. An awful lot of people hate it, but I'm vaguely obsessed with it, and there are some decent examples in Brighton.

I've had pictures used in The Guardian, the BBC and various other places, a feature on an architecture website, and help run a Facebook group with 85,000 members. I've also got an Instagram account where I post my snaps: https://www.instagram.com/murray_tiptop/?hl=en

Let me know if you've got any goodies in your area - always on the lookout for more.

Saw this beauty in the abandoned resort of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus this summer.

 

[Comrade Sam]

I pay for six months at a time, and the only thing chargeable is for birth or death certificates.
Parish records, birth, marriage and death registrations are all free, and you can get info from other family trees with common ancestors.

I’ve also had my DNA tested which did cost extra. Fascinating stuff.

I have discovered ancestors in 1460s Buckinghamshire, which was a surprise as my Mum's maiden name is Deverell and we assumed they were Huegenot as they came from Whitechapel. Turns out it was Norman in origin. Apparently Ian Duncan Smith's wife swindled the family title from an ancestor. However, if you go back as far as the Norman conquest you have 2 to the power of 40 direct ancestors. That's more people than has ever existed - so we all have Norman, Saxon, Goth, Mongol, Roman, Ethiopian etc ancestors.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I have discovered ancestors in 1460s Buckinghamshire, which was a surprise as my Mum's maiden name is Deverell and we assumed they were Huegenot as they came from Whitechapel. Turns out it was Norman in origin. Apparently Ian Duncan Smith's wife swindled the family title from an ancestor. However, if you go back as far as the Norman conquest you have 2 to the power of 40 direct ancestors. That's more people than has ever existed - so we all have Norman, Saxon, Goth, Mongol, Roman, Ethiopian etc ancestors.

My DNA shows I’m 15% Norwegian and 2% Danish, but having gone back as far as 1532, so far, it’s all Sussex.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Only started this winter because we've got our first dog, I've started collecting driftwood off the beach. Got one lovely bit that's a tree root and trunk from a small tree that I've turned into a full room height lamp.

The others I'm collecting and will turn them into lamps and other things for decoration.

Got to be a bit of a nerd, the way the sea has worn down certain parts and not others. Very 'organic' as my 'arty' Mrs B says.

Driftwood can also be sold to the Aquarium community if you find the right pieces.

Do a bit of that myself.

 

[Questions]

I collect old gravestones which you can buy from -developers of previously ex burial ground. I have a 1785 - 1843 nice marble number.

 

[Justice]

I consider my new found hobby slightly unusual, after inheriting 4 of them I have become obsessed with........Pocket watches. Loads of research on the internet reveals some interesting facts. They are worth next to nothing, not that I would sell them anyway and to have them serviced cost an arm and a leg. Just nice to look at, wind and see them working, well 3 out of 4 of them work.
So bore us all with your hobbies

Where to you find the time?

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

US thrift stores the size of a small UK supermarket are heaven for stuff like that. When I returned here from the States 20 ago I shipped back a tea chest of thrift store sports stuff collected over several years - baseball mitts, balls, bats, several 3/4 size NFL team helmets, NHL endorsed pucks, planning to display it in my Brighton house at the time...it’s all still in the chest unpacked two decades later.

Sounds amazing! Im on a few FB collectors pages and the amount of thrift store finds over that side of the pond is insane. Will have to seek one out on my next trip.

We have a few baseballs, bats, NFL helmets / footballs, pucks, sticks, NHL goalie masks etc dotted around as well, as we are mad keen US sports fanatics.
If you ever feel like shifting it I am more than happy, and able, to give it all a good home!

 

[Comrade Sam]

My DNA shows I’m 15% Norwegian and 2% Danish, but having gone back as far as 1532, so far, it’s all Sussex.

Does that include every single mum and dad of every mum and dad. If you just follow your direct paternal or maternal line it's a lot easier but a very tiny sample.
If I go back to 1900 I have Polish Jews, Panamanian Jews, Dutch Jews, Irish Jamaican, Irish, West Country, Essex and East London.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Does that include every single mum and dad of every mum and dad. If you just follow your direct paternal or maternal line it's a lot easier but a very tiny sample.
If I go back to 1900 I have Polish Jews, Panamanian Jews, Dutch Jews, Irish Jamaican, Irish, West Country, Essex and East London.

Yes. My Dad’s line is all West Sussex and Mum’s all East Sussex.

 

[dolphins]

Other than following BHA, I watch a lot of films (around 300 so far this year), live comedy, and have a VERY large collection of Pink Floyd/related items, one of which was in their exhibition at the V&A in London.

When I saw the thread, I instantly thought of the old Monty Python bit:


Loved the final line: "He's let himself down a bit on the hobbies: golf isn't very popular around here"!

 

[Bodian]

Yes. My Dad’s line is all West Sussex and Mum’s all East Sussex.

Did they have to get special parental permission to court someone from over the border?

 

[jcdenton08]

I am something of a Ripperologist…

 

[Swansman]

@Your Mum ....

 

[vegster]

I collect spores, moulds and fungus.

Have you considered Circumscision ?

 

[Whitley Bayster]

Yes. My Dad’s line is all West Sussex and Mum’s all East Sussex.

Does that make you Mid Sussex?

 

[Flex Your Head]

Saw this beauty in the abandoned resort of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus this summer.View attachment 153723

Woah! That's a cracker - love it. Can I share it with the Brutalism Appreciation Society on Facebook please? Will credit the pic to Comrade Sam on NSC... or whatever else you like

 

[Papak]

Gold Prospecting & Panning in the UK. Beat that

I had a go at panning in Alaska many years ago, still got the flakes somewhere around here...

During and between the lockdowns I bought a number of antique brass lamps (both table and floor) which I repaired / renovated / upgraded the wiring on. Some are worth a few quid now... plus matching vintage shades etc.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Woah! That's a cracker - love it. Can I share it with the Brutalism Appreciation Society on Facebook please? Will credit the pic to Comrade Sam on NSC... or whatever else you like

Woah! That's a cracker - love it. Can I share it with the Brutalism Appreciation Society on Facebook please? Will credit the pic to Comrade Sam on NSC... or whatever else you like

Here it is again with a bunkeresk Greek Orthodox Church